Railway hopper car closure latching and sealing means



RLWAY BUFFER CAB CLOSURE LATGHING AND SEALING MEANS Filed Aug. R6, 3.963C6 Sheets-5heet l INVENTOR.

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RAILWAY HOPPER CAR CLOSURE LATCHING AND SEALING MEANS Filed Aug. 2e,1965 l5 Sheets-5heet :5

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United States Patent 3,296,980 RAILWAY HOPPER CAR CLOSURE LATCHING ANDSEALING MEANS William E. Fritz, Hinsdale, Ill., assgnor to Union TankCar Compa-ny, a corporation of New Jersey Filed Aug. 26, 1963, Ser. No.304,445 Claims. (Cl. 10S-248) This invention relates to closures forrailroad cars, and more particularly to sealing arrangements for hoppercar discharge outlets.

Since railroad hopper cars are not subject to constant observation, itsometimes happens that a material discharge valve becomes inadvertentlyopened in transit, thus causing unintentional discharge of material.This invention prevents unintentional discharge of material fromrailroad vehicles by providing an arrangement in which a single car sealconnects the operating handle of a discharge outlet cover plate and theoperating shaft of a valve for closing the outlet port; thus if eitherthe valve or the cover plate has been opened, the evidence is readilyapparent by observation of the car seal.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide improved meansfor controlling the discharge of materials from a railroad car.

Another object is to provide an improved railroad hopper car.

Another object is to provide an improved railroad vehicle sealingarrangement.

Another object is to provide means for preventing unintentional gravitydischarge from a railroad hopper car.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from thedrawing, specification and claims, and the scope of the invention willbe pointed out in the claims.

Briefly stated, according to one aspect of this invention, the dischargeoutlet of a railroad car is closed by a valve and sealed by a coverplate; the operating handle for the cover plate has means dimensioned toreceive the valve shaft, and the receiving means and shaft have alignedholes therein so that a single car seal can interlock the valve andcover plate.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of `a railroad hopper car in accord with thisinvention.

FIG. 2 is a partially broken away end elevation taken along line 2-2 ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a enlarged side elevation of the discharge arrangement at thebottom of the hopper shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is `an enlarged cross sectional view taken along line 4-4 in FIG.2.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged broken away plan view taken along line 5-5 in FIG.3.

FIG. 6 is a partially broken 'away end elevation view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 7 is an exploded, fragmentary, cross sectional view of the closureplate and side wall of FIG. 6, with the closure plate in a vertical,fully open position.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the relative positions of the closureplate and side wall of FIG. 7 when the closure plate is in its 4closedposition.

FIG. 9 is a partially broken away elevational view taken along the line9 9 in FIG. 3, and showing the outlet sealing means in open position.

Referring to the drawings, a railroad hopper car 1 has Ia vent hatch 3and contains a finely divided material 5 stored in a hopper 7 defined bysloping walls 8. The material 5 is unloaded through discharge port 9 in-an outlet housing 11. A valve 19 having a substantially fiat closureplate 21 controls the discharge flow of material 5.

The degree of opening of plate 21 is controlled by a 3,296,980 PatentedJan. 10, 1967 ICC lever 23 connected to horizontal shaft 25. The head oflever 23 contains a conduit 26. A locking peg 30 comprising a handle 31and a shank 33, having a reduced portion 34, passes through conduit 26and into one of a number of receptacles 35 whose distances apart on 4arc36 correspond to various predetermined degrees of opening of valve 19.Receptacle 37 determines the closed position of valve 19, andreceptacles 38 determine the various open positions of valve 19. Acompression spring 39 receives portion 34 and urges peg 30 into anychosen receptacle.

A cover plate 32 having a lip 44 protects port 17 from atmosphericcontamination. Cover 32 is pivotally mounted on lug 40 at hinge 41through arm 42. As shown in FIG. 4, a gasket 43 may be placed betweencover 32 `and a flange 45 on valve 19 to seal port 17. A lock 47 holdscover 32 in a closed position. Lock 47 includes Iarms 49 swingablymounted on fixed horizontal shafts 51, which are `mounted on housing 11.Arms 49 support la rotatable horizontal shaft 53 having cams 55 mountedthereon. Shaft 53 is parallel to and below the edge of lip 44 so thatwhen cover 32 is in its closed position lip 44 will rest on cams 55. Ahorizontal stop 57 having an arcuate cross section is attached to thebase of .arms 49 adjacent and parallel to shaft 53 so that cams 55 willcontact stop 57 after partial rotation of shaft 53.

A -bend in shaft 53 defines an operating handle 59, having a U-shapedclevis 63 pivotally mounted on a pin 60 at its head. Clevis 63 isdimensioned to receive the outer end of shaft 25 which extends beyondhousing 11. Aligned apertures 65 in clevis 63 are concentric with a hole67 through the end of shaft 25, so that a car seal 69 can simultaneouslypass through apertures 65 and hole 67. This permits a single car seal tofixedly intercon nect handle 59 and shaft 25 so that the seal 69 must bebroken before either valve 19 or cover 32 can be opened. Alternatively,clevis 63 could be placed on shaft 25 and dimensioned to receive handle59, with the remaining `features `and operation of the sealingarrangement being as described above.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 5, a gas plenum chamber 70 is mounted inhousing 11. A gas inlet. line 71 having a removable lcap 72 supplieschamber 70 with pressurized gas from any conventional source (notshown). Mounted above the chamber 70 is a screen 73 supporting a gaspermeable membrane 75, such as burlap or woven polypropylene. Hold downstrips 77 secure membrane 75 and screen 73 to the walls of chamber 704with bolts 79. Membrane 75 slopes downwardly toward port 17 and has itslower end adjacent a substantially rectangular valve seat chamber 81.End 80 is situated at the top of short vertical end wall 82 of cham-ber81, and end 80 is parallel to and lower in elevation than shaft 25 whichdefines the pivot axis of valve 19. Application of pressurized gasthrough inlet 71 to chamber 70 will cause an aerating stream 78 to flowupwardly toward vent hatch 3 `and thus through material on top of plate21.

Chamber 81 also has a high vertical end wall 83 and side walls 84. Shaft25 is parallel to walls 82 and 83, and passes through openings in eachwall 84; the openings in Walls 84 are sealed by rubber gaskets 85compressed against the outside of walls 84 by bearings 86.

Plate 21 is fixedly mounted on shaft 25 to rotate therewith for openingand closing valve 19. Plate 21 has side edges 87, each of which has acentral flat portion 89 in a vertical plane when in -the position shownin FIG. 7. Biased fiat portions 91 project toward side walls 84 fromportion 89. Each portion 91 has a longitudinal center line 93 whichintersects the longitudinal center line 94 of shaft 25 at a first acuteangle 0, at a point 95; each wall 84 has a fiat sealing surface 99sloping downwardly toward plate 21. For proper sealing of plate 21against Walls 84, the plane of surface 99 should intersect center line94 at point 95 at a second angle tb whcih is smaller than angle 0. Thispermits edge 91 Ito seal against surface 99 by straight line contactbecause edge 91 will be Wholly in the plane of surface 99. This can beexplained by the geometry of intersecting surfaces, which reveals thatthe rotation of shaft 25 causes edges 91 to generate an imaginaryconical surface of revolution having the shape of a frustum of a conewhose vertex is coincident with point 95. During such rotation, eachedge 91 lies entirely in the line of intersection of the imaginaryconical surface with different planes which pass through point 95,because point 95 corresponds to the vertex of the imaginary conicalsurface and a plane passing through the vertex of a cone will intersectthe cone in a straigh-t line. Thus on rotation of shaft 25 in acounterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 8, edge 91 will approachsurface 99 and finally bind thereagainst in a sealing manner by lyingentirely in the plane of surface 99.

A vertical portion 101 depends from the lower edge of surface 99 and isin sliding sealing contact with edge 89 of plate 21. The Vertical lengthof surface 101 is less than the true length of edge 39 in order toprevent edge 99 from binding against surface 101 during rotation.

Wall 84 also has a portion 102 which slants upwardly toward plate 21 toa connection with the bottom of surface 101. Plate 21 has a lower biasedside edge 100 which cooperates with portion 102 in a manner identical tothat in which edge 91 cooperates with surface 99, except that edge 91must rota-te downwardly to contact surface 99, while edge 100 mustrotate upwardly to contact surface 102.

Plate 21 has a lower end edge 103 which is located directly below shaft25 when plate 21 is in widest open or vertical position and an upper endedge 105 which is located directly above shaft 25 when plate 21 is insuch vertical position. When plate 21 is in its closed position, edge103 is in sealing contact with Wall 82, and edge 105 is in sealingcontact with wall 83.

The dimensions of edges 91, 100, 103 and 105 are such that they willcontact their respective valve seats on Walls S2, 83 and 34simultaneously. All edges of plate 21 are cushioned by a rubber coatingso as to be at least as soft as the internal surfaces of chamber 81,which may be coated with an epoxy paint to prevent the stored commodityfrom contacting the metal from which the apparatus is made.

Operation of the invention Referring to FIGS. l, 3 and 5, car 1 isinspected by a workman prior to discharging nely divided material 5.Observation of an unbroken car seal 69 connecting handle 59 and shaft 25indicates that during transit neither valve 19 nor cover plate 32 havebeen opened because car seal 69 prevents rotation of handle 59 and shaft25.

Car seal 69 is then broken. Clevis 63 is removed from the end of shaft25 and arm 59 is rotated in a clockwise direction, as viewed in FIG. 3,rotating horizontal shaft 53 and cams 55 until cams 55 contact stop 57.Further rotation of arm 59 swings arm 49 in a clockwise direction aroundshaft 51 until cams 55 no longer contact lip 44 of cover 32. Cover 32will then rotate downwardly around hinge 41 to open port 17. A flexiblehose (not shown) is attached in a conventional manner to flange 45, forconducting the material 5 from the car.

Hatch 3 is then opened, and pressurized gas is introduced into chamber70 through line 71. Stream 78 then iiows through membrane 75 upwardlytoward hatch 3 and crosses plate 21 through material 5, the weight ofwhich tends to rotate plate .21 into more tightly sealing contact withchamber 81. This fluidizes material 5 above plate 21 and will permitrotation of plate 21 in a counterclockwise direction against the weightof material 5. Handle 31 of peg 30 is pulled outwardly to compressspring 39 and remove shank 33 from receptacle 37. Operating handle 23 isthen rotated in a counterclockwise direction 4 to open valve 19. Plate21 is held in a fixed open position by allowing peg 30 to enter anydesired receptacle 38.

Walls 8 of hopper 7 have an angle with the horizontal which is greaterthan the angle of repose of material 5 when aerated. Therefore, iiow ofmaterial 5 will commence through valve 19 as soon as plate 21 is opened,and the flow will continue until hopper 7 is empty.

Emanation of stream 7 8 from chamber 70 is continued in order todisplace quantities of material 5 falling on membrane 75 from upperregions of hopper 7. Most of stream 78 will then accompany material 5through port 17, because this is the path of least resistance. Whenhopper 7 is empty, the gas is shut off, and the flexible hose is removedfrom flange 45. Plate 21 is then turned toward its closed position byrotating handle 23 so that peg 31 approaches receptacle 37. Rotation ofplate 21 to its closed position causes edge to contact wall 83 of sea-tchamber S1, and edge 103 to contact wall 82. Simultaneously, edge 91approaches surface 99 by rotating around center line 94 of shaft 25.Since portion 89 has a true length greater than the vertical length ofpor-tion 101, no part of portion 91 will contact portion 99 until theentire area of portion 91 seals against surface 99 by lying completelyon the plane of surface 99. This single line of con-tact sealing actionbetween portion 91 and wall 84 precludes the possibility of abrasion ofthe coating on wall S4 due to scraping by portion 91.

Since none of the sealing surfaces in chamber 81 are horizontal, finelydivided material 5 will not be trapped while passing through valve 19;this prevents stagnation and interference with sealing engagementbetween plate 21 and chamber 81.

In a commercial embodiment of this invention, a railroad hopper car had3 hoppers, each about 126" high, each capable of containing about 1200cubic feet of flour, and a uidizing discharge arrangement in the bottomof each hopper as previously described having the following approximatespecications:

Plate 19:

Material: Steel, coated with 3716 thick Type W neoprene rubber of 30durometer hardness. End edge 10S-length: 2'61/2 Central flat sideportion 89-length: 3%" -Biased side portion 91-length: 12%2 Angle 0:7845 Valve seat chamber 81:

Vertical planar portion 101-leugth: 111/16" Angle rb: 7635 In operationof a commercial embodiment of this invention having the aforementionedspecifications, it was impossible to manually rotate plate 19 againstthe load of our bearing thereon. However, after applying a fluidiz ingair stream at an average ow rate of about 200 c.f.m. for about fiveminutes, plate 19 Was easily rotated manually to its open position.

It will be understood that while the forms of the invention herein shownand described constitute preferred embodiments, it is not intendedherein to illustrate all of the equivalent forms or ramificationsthereof. It will also be understood that the Words used are Words ofdescription rather than of limitation, and that various changes may bemade without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention hereindisclosed, and it is aimed in the appended claims to cover all suchchanges as fall within the true spirit .and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. In a railroad car comprising:

(A) means deiining a discharge outlet,

(B) means for opening and closing said outlet, and

(C) independently operable cover means for sealing said outlet belowsaid opening and closing means,

the improvement in means for preventing inadvertent opening of eithersaid opening and closing means or said cover means comprising:

(1) first means for operating said opening and closing means,

(2) -second means for closing said cover means,

(3) said first and second means being independently operable,

(4) means providing aligned openings in said rst and second means whensaid opening and closing means and said cover means are both closed,

(5) a car seal passing through said aligned openings so as to fxedlyinterconnect said said first and second means, and

(6) said first and second means being constructed and arranged such thatmovement of either said first means or said second means -relative tothe other breaks said car seal,

(D) whereby presence of an unbroken car seal confirms that neither saidopening and closing means nor said cover means has been opened.

2. In a railroad car comprising:

(A) means defining a discharge outlet,

(B) a valve for opening and closing said outlet, and

(C) an independently operable cover plate for sealing said outlet belowsaid valve,

the improvement in means for preventing inadvertent opening of eithersaid valve or said cover plate comprising:

(l) first means for opening ,said valve,

(2) second means including an operating handle 4for holding said coverplate closed,

(3) means providing aligned openings in said handle and said valveopening means When said valve and said cover plate are both closed,

(4) a car seal passing through lsaid aligned openings so as to fixedlyinterconnect said first and second means, and

(5) said first and second means being constructed and arranged such thatmovement of either said first means or second means relative to theother breaks said car seal,

(D) whereby presence of an unbroken car seal confirms that neither saidopening and closing means nor said cover means has been opened.

3. In a railroad hopper car comprising:

(A) a hopper discharge outlet,

(B) a pivotable valve for opening and closing said outlet, and

(C) an independently operable cover plate for sealing said outlet belowsaid valve,

the improvement in means for preventing inadvertent opening of eithersaid valve or said cover plate comprising:

(l) shaft means pivotably supporting said valve, there being a holethrough said Shaft means,

(2) means for holding said cover plate closed including (a) an operatinghandle,

(b) clevis means on said handle dimensioned to receive said shaft,

(c) there being an aperture through said clevis means,

(3) said handle, said shaft means and said clevis means `beingpositioned so that when said valve and said cover .plate are bothclosed, said clevis means receives said shaft,

(4) said hole and said aperture being positioned so that when said shaftis received by said clevis means, said hole and aperture are aligned,

comprising:

(A) a hopper having a bottom discharge outlet,

(B) a pivotable valve for opening and closing said outlet, and

(C) an independently operable external cover plate for sealing saidoutlet below said valve,

the improvement in means for preventing inadvertent opening of eithersaid valve or said cover plate comprising:

( l) shaft means pivotably supporting said valve, there being a holethrough said shaft means,

(2) means for holding said cover plate closed including (a) an operatinghandle,

(b) a pivotable U-shaped clevis on Asaid handle and dimensioned toreceive said shaft means,

(c) there being aligned apertures through said clevis,

(3) said handle, said shaft means and said clevis being independentlyoperable and being positioned so that when said valve and said coverplate are both closed, said clevis receives said shaft means,

(4) said hole and said apertures being positioned so that Iwhen saidshaft means is received by said clevis, said hole and apertures are allaligned,

(5) a car seal passing through said hole and said apertures so as tofixedly interconnect said handle and said shaft means, and

(6) said handle and said shaft means being constructed and arranged suchthat movement of either said handle or said shaft means relative to theother breaks said car seal,

(D) whereby presence of an unbroken car seal confirms that neither saidvalve nor said cover plate has been opened.

5. In a railroad car for transporting finely divided material,

(A). means adapted to be connected to a source of pressurized gas foruidizing said finely divided material,

(B) means defining a discharge outlet for fiuidized finely divided`material,

(C) valve means for opening and closing said outlet,

and'

(D) independently operable cover means for sealing said outlet belowsaid valve means,

the improvement in means for preventing inadvertent opening of eithersaid valve means or said cover means comprising:

(1) first means for operating said valve means,

(2) second means for closing said cover means,

(3) means providing aligned openings in said first and second means whensaid valve means and said cover means are both closed,

7 (4) a car seal passing through said aligned openings so as to lixedlyinterconnect said and `second means, and (5) said first and second meansbeing constructed and arranged such that movement of either said firstmeans or said second means relative to the other breaks said car seal,(E) whereby presence of an unbroken car seal conrms that neither saidopening and closing means nor saidcover means has been opened.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 95,717 10/1869Noling 298-3 754,351 3/1904 Shelton 10S-308 X 8 Johnson 10S-308Balthasar 251-305 `Campbell 10S-239 Zimmer 105-250 Holly 214-8328McKenna 214-8328 Wine et al 105-283 X McBride et al. 105-309 X Doyle222-506 Brown 251-305 Johansson et al. 222-506 X Mulcahy 105--250 ARTHURL. LA POINT, Primary Examiner.

15 LEO QUACKENBUSH, Examiner.

H. BELTRAN, Assistant Examiner.

1. IN A RAILROAD CAR COMPRISING: (A) MEANS DEFINING A DISCHARGE OUTLET,(B) MEANS FOR OPENING AND CLOSING SAID OUTLET, AND (C) INDEPENDENTLYOPERABLE COVER MEANS FOR SEALING SAID OUTLET BELOW SAID OPENING ANDCLOSING MEANS, THE IMPROVEMENT IN MEANS FOR PREVENTING INADVERTENTOPENING OF EITHER SAID OPENING AND CLOSING MEANS OR SAID COVER MEANSCOMPRISING: (1) FIRST MEANS FOR OPERATING SAID OPENING AND CLOSINGMEANS, (2) SECOND MEANS FOR CLOSING SAID COVER MEANS, (3) SAID FIRST ANDSECOND MEANS BEING INDEPENDENTLY OPERABLE, (4) MEANS PROVIDING ALIGNEDOPENINGS IN SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEANS WHEN SAID OPENING AND CLOSINGMEANS AND SAID COVER MEANS ARE BOTH CLOSED, (5) A CAR SEAL PASSINGTHROUGH SAID ALIGNED OPENINGS SO AS TO FIXEDLY INTERCONNECT SAID SAIDFIRST AND SECOND MEANS, AND (6) SAID FIRST AND SECOND MEANS BEINGCONSTRUCTED AND ARRANGED SUCH THAT MOVEMENT OF EITHER SAID FIRST MEANSOR SAID SECOND MEANS RELATIVE TO THE OTHER BREAKS SAID CAR SEAL, (D)WHEREBY PRESENCE OF AN UNBROKEN CAR SEAL CONFIRMS THAT NEITHER SAIDOPENING AND CLOSING MEANS NOR SAID COVER MEANS HAS BEEN OPENED.